Cloth-doubling machine.



Patented May' l4, I901. I

J E. WIND LE. CLOTH DOUBLING MACHINE.

(Application filed Max. 21, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Shoals-Sheet l.

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. WINDLE, OF NORTH GRAFTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTH-DOUBLING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 674,229, dated May 14,1901.

Application filed March 21, 1900. Serial No. 9,538. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. WINDLE, of North Grafton, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inCloth-Doubling. Machines, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likecharacters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention in cloth-doubling machines has for its object to supportin a novel manner the cloth being led to the doubling devices.

In my invention I apply the cloth to be doubled upon a carriage movableoutside the framework and transversely to the longitudinal axes of thefeeding-rolls which take the cloth from the doubling device preparatoryto winding the same. The carriage is herein represented as movable upona track secured to the outside of the frame and also upon a suitabletrack located at the floor, and the carriage has suitableguiding-rollers about which the cloth is passed on its way to thedoubling devices. By mounting the carriage outside the framework, asstated, the operator may readily lay the goods to be doubled upon saidcarriage, thus obviating the difficulty of reaching under the frameworkto deposit on the carriage the goods to be folded, as in United StatesPatent N 0. 523,499, and by reason of this carriage, mounted asdescribed, it is possible to more readily adjust the position of thecloth with relation to the doubling apparatus,-so that the cloth may bedoubled exactly in its center and yet provide that the strain exertedupon the cloth be in the proper lines; otherwise the cloth cannot behandled and doubled uniformly. The rollers in the traveling carriage aremade adjustable that they may be alined correctly one with the other toinsure passage of the material to be folded in a straight line.

Figure 1 of the drawings represents a righthand side elevation of adoubling-machine embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a view of themachine shown in Fig. 1 looking at it from the left-hand end.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the upright or side frames ofthe machine, secured in usual manner to the floor. The framework A hassuitable stands erected thereon to constitute supports for the holders aa, connected, respectively, with shafts provided with toothed gears aand a The gears of and a are engaged by like pinions a and a fast on themain shaft-ct of the machine, said shaft having applied to it (see Fig.l) a suitable clutch-pulley a adapted to receive a suitable belt drivenfrom any usual counter-shaft to rotate the shaft a when it is desired towind the doubled cloth or other material.

. It will be obvious that the invention herein described is applicableto doubling not only cloth, but any textile or web-like material.

To the framework, at one side thereof, I have secured by bolts 1) astand I), having an extended ear b upon which istmounted a bar 0, whichcorresponds with a bar designated by like letter in my Patent No.523,499, dated July 24:, 1894, said bar having cooperating with itsuitable rods 0, which converge at the free end of the bar a andconstitute a truncated former, the bar bracing the former and'holding itfirmly in position while the material being doubled is being drawn overthe former and wound upon the winding board C, common to my said patent.

The framework sustains suitable pressurerolls B, through which thedoubled cloth is drawn by the act of winding the same on thewinding-board, or it may be a roll, and the cloth between the former andthe pressurerolls is passed between suitable smoothingrods (1, alsocommon to my said patent.

Herein the framework is provided with suitable short tracks 2, whichreceive upon them suitable wheels 3, represented as grooved at theirperipheries, said wheels being mounted on studs extended backwardlyfroma suitable traveling carriage D, of a length nearly equal to thelength of the side frame A of the machine, (see Fig. 1,) said carriagehaving at its lower end a platform (1, having suitable rollers 61 to runon tracks (1 located on the floor, said carriage also having othersuitable rollers (1 which contact with the, sides of the frame, so thatsaid carriage is free to be slid longitudinally of the length of theframe and at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the rollers B Band also of the cloth-winding mech-.

anism.

The carriage D has fast upon it, as herein represented at its frontedge, a suitable smoothing-board e, against which passes one side of thematerial 6 to be doubled. The board at its front side near its upper endhas attached to it by suitable screws 6 suit-able stands a and to theupper ends of each of said stands is fixed by a set-screwet a bearing5,having ears provided with adjusting devices 6, which act upon andadjust bearings 7, which receive (see Fig. l) the journals 8, extendedfrom a guide-roll e. To restrain the rotation of this guide-roll, sothat more or less force may be required to turn it, thus causing it toact as a friction-roll to detain the cloth more or less as the latter isbeing drawn through the machine, I provide the bearing 10 at theright-hand side of the machine, Fig. 1, with a plate 12, and I interposebetween the end of the roller 6 and said plate a friction-washer13,which may be of any suitable material, and I have provided a deviceby which to force the right-hand end of the roll 0 against said washerto thereby determine the extent of friction, said device consisting, asherein shown, of a thumb-screw 14L, (see left of Fig. 1,) the threadedshank of which enters a threaded hole in the bearing 7 and contacts withthe end of the journal 8, entering said bearing.

Each stand 0 has connected with it by suitable screwsfsuitable boxesf,which receive the ends of a rodf under which the cloth taken from a pileof cloth laid on the platform (1 of the carriage passes on its way toand over the guide-roll 6 said cloth leaving said guide-roll and passingbehind the board e of the traveling carriage and thence passing over atension device G, composed of a shaft g, having its ends mounted insuitable bearings g in suitable standsfixed to the carriage D, saidshaft having at one end-the left-hand end of Fig. 1-outside its bearinga locking device g shown as a plate, having suitable notches orshoulders g and thereafter said shaft has connected with ita handwheelgflsaid hand-wheel being mostly broken away in Fig. 2 to show thelocking-plate behind it and the locking-dog g which cooperates with saidlocking-plate to hold said tension device in its operative position. Thetension device is further composed of arms 9 fixed to the shaft 9 andextended backwardly, as represented in Fig. 2, said arms carrying asecond rod g The tension device is shown in its operative position inthe drawings; but by lifting the notched end of the lockingdog g andengaging the hand-wheel and turning it in the direction of the arrownear it in Fig. 2 the bar g may be swung under the shaft g to the right,thus completely removing the tension device from contact with the cloth.By a change of position of the rod g withrelation to the shaft g thecloth may be made to contact with more or less of the surface of theshaft g and the rod g and thereby increase the tension on the cloth. Thecloth after passing the tension device is carried over the side of andunder the guide-roll 7t and thence to the left viewing Fig. 2 up overthe former, the two selvages of the cloth being retained in the dottedline w at the right in Fig. 2, the fold of the cloth being representedby the dotted line 10', the cloth passing from the former between therods (1 and between the rollers Band being connected in the usual mannerto the winding board or roller. The roll it has its journals mounted insuitable adjustable boxes h, changeable as to their position by orthrough suitable screws 7L2, and the journal at one end of said rollerhas applied to it a suitable pulley h grooved at its periphery andembraced by a friction device It, shown as two concaved bars heldyieldingly together by means of a spring h, surrounding a screw it, (seeFig. 2,) one of said concaved bars (see Fig. 2) being divided in twoparts, one part being pivoted at 72/7 on the other part, thefreely-movable part of the bar having a device, which may be turned inone direction when it is desired to entirely release the friction fromthe roll it and in the other direction when it is desired to exertfriction upon the said roll.

One of the shafts supporting one of the wheels 3 has a hand-wheel m,which may be turned to rotate the wheel connected with it and cause thecarriage to be moved in one or the other direction upon the tracks 2 and(Z so that the cloth to be folded, whatever its width, said cloth havingbeen properly applied to the rollers c andh, as described, may be soplaced by the adjustment of the position of the carriage as to locatethe center of the width of the cloth to be doubled at exactly the properposition with relation to the position occupied by the former, itsposition being fixed, it will be remembered, with relation to theframewerk.

If the cloth should fail to run evenly, the adj usting-screws 6 and 20,controlling, respectively, the bearings of the rollers e and It, may beadjusted so that the strain upon the cloth may be exactly determined toinsure a straight-line movement of the selvages of the cloth to bedoubled.

Prior to my invention I am not aware that cloth or any material to bedoubled has been sustained upon a carriage movable on a track outsidethe framework of the machine and transversely of the longitudinal axisof the winding material for the doubled cloth, and therefore I desire toclaim this invention broadly, irrespective of the particularconstruction shown of the carriage or of the bearing-rolls mounted inthe carriage.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine of the class described, means for winding doubledmaterial, a former to double the material, and a travelingmaterial-carrying frame mounted outside the machine-frame and movabletransversely to the IIO longitudinal axis of the winding means, saidmaterial-carrying frame having sliding connection with themachine-frame.

2. In a machine of the class described, winding .means, means fordoubling the cloth, pressure-rolls located between said doubling meansand said winding means, a traveling carriage mounted vertically outsideof the frame of the machine and movable longitudinally of the axis ofrotation of the winding means and sustaining the material to be doubled,said material-carrying frame having sliding connection with themachine-frame.

3. In a machine of the class described, means for winding doubledmaterial, a former to double the material, and an upright travelingframe located outside of the machine frame and movable transversely tothe longitudinal axis of the winding means, said frame carrying thematerial to be doubled, the upright portions of said frame beingsupported outside the framework and having guiding; rolls over which thecloth to be doubled is stretched on its way to the doubling means.

4. In a machine of the class described, stationary doubling means, atrack outside the machine-frame, and a carriage having wheelscooperating with said track, said carriage being provided withguiding-rolls, the carriage being movable longitudinally to therebypresent the material to be doubled with its central line in exactly theproper position with relation to the doubling means.

5. In a machine of the class described, winding means for the doubledmaterial, a doubling device, and a carriage movable outside themachine-frame transversely to the longitudinal axis of the windingmeans, said carriage having guiding-rollers, and means to adjust theresistance offered by said rolls in their rotation by the material beingdoubled.

6. In amachine of the class described, winding means for the doubledmaterial, a doubling device, and a carriage mounted outside of the mainframe and bodily movable transversely to the longitudinal axis of thewinding means, said carriage having guiding-rollers, and means to adjustthe ends of said rollers to enable them to guide the material in astraight path with relation to the traveling carriage.

7. In a machine of the class described, winding means for the doubledmaterial, a doubling device, and a carriage mounted outside of the mainframe and bodily movable transversely to the longitudinal axis of thewinding means, said carriage having guiding-rollers, and a tensiondevice located between said

